Leading beer firm Nigerian Breweries Plc (“NB”) said that increased competition and a new excise duty rate increase on domestically produced alcohol and tobacco which came into effect last year has had an adverse impact on its 2018 full year results.

The maker of Star Lager and Gulder said that full year revenue declined by 5.8% to ₦324bn, while net profit for the year was down by 41.2% to ₦19.4bn.

In a statement, the company said “In 2018, the results of the company were adversely impacted by the increased exercise duty rates which came into effect during the year coupled with a challenging operating environment”.

The company is also seeing increased competition from its rivals AB InBev owned International Breweries Plc which has been scaling-up its operations and in 2018 completed a new brewery in Sagamu. Diageo controlled Guinness Nigeria Plc has also been ramping up its marketing and route-to-market efforts in both beer and spirits. NB is also faced with a challenging macro-economic environment of low consumer demand caused by the recession of recent years.

The company said it will declare a total dividend ₦19.4bn to its shareholders in the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), which translates to ₦2.43 kobo per ordinary share of ₦0.50 kobo. The company had earlier paid an interim dividend of ₦4.8bn at ₦0.60 kobo per ordinary share of ₦0.50 kobo. Thus the final dividend will be ₦14.6bn, which translates to ₦1.83 per ordinary share of ₦0.50 kobo.